Southampton Football Club

Southampton Football Club

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, and one of the founding members of the English Premier League. As of 2010 Southampton had dropped into the third tier of English football following relegation to the Championship and subsequently to League One after going into administration following financial difficulties and a 10 point penalty. In the 2010/2011 season Southampton were made favourites for champions and promotion back to the Championship.

Southampton Football Club's nickname is "The Saints" and play their home matches at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, Hampshire. St Mary's Stadium has an all seated capacity of 32,689 and was completed in 2001 at cost of Â£32 million. Their home before St Mary's was The Dell, which had a capacity of just over 15,000, cost only Â£10,000 and was the smallest ground in the first tier of English Football.

The club was founded in 1885 by members of the St Mary's Church of England Young Men's Association, and celebrated their 125th anniversary in the 2010/2011 season. To commemorate the anniversary the kit was a replica of the original 1885 kit, which sports a red sash on a white kit, with black socks.

On 8 July 2009 the club was bought by Markus Liebherr, a German born Swiss Businessman. Markus appointed Nicola Cortese as Exectutive Chairman of the club for day to day running. Sadly, on 10th August 2010 Markus Liebherr passed away, leaving his legacy of Southampton Football Club to his family who are to carry on his dream of taking The Saints back to the Premier League.

The South Coast Derby

The South Coast Derby is the name of the derby match where The Saints take on their local rivals Portsmouth FC. Portsmouth lies only 17 miles down the coast from Southampton. The South Coast Derby is one of the oldest and fiercest rivalries in English Football, which could have come about from the cities' very competitive history. Portsmouth has always been a naval port and home of the Royal Navy, but Southampton is the UK's leading civilian port, where world class ocean cruisers depart to sail the world. Saints supporters refer affectionately to their Portsmouth counterparts as "Skates", themselves being called "Scummers" by the Pompey fans.

Club Honours

The most notable achievement of Southampton FC is the 1976 FA Cup run which led to a Wembley Stadium final where 100,000 people watched The Saints run out eventual 1 â 0 winners over Manchester United after an 82nd minute goal from Bobby Stokes. More recently in 2010 The Saints beat Carlisle 4 â 1 in the Football League Trophy final, which was played at Wembley.